As soldiers went short of kit, MoD wasted £½m on artwork like this

Geoff Hoon spent nearly £560,000 of Ministry of Defence money on modern art while British soldiers were dying in Iraq and Afghanistan through lack of equipment.

The former Defence Secretary wasted the huge sum on 15 pieces of abstract art to hang on the walls of his department between 2003 and 2005.

Meanwhile, the Labour government faced criticism for putting servicemen and women in danger by scrimping on essential kit such as helicopters, radios and night goggles, and forcing their families to live in rundown military homes.

Waste of money: Geoff Hoon bought modern art for his office with MoD money, including this work by Louise Cattrell

Last night Defence Secretary Liam Fox condemned the ‘scandalous’ waste of money - and vowed to sell the paintings and sculptures and donate the money to military charities.

He added: ‘It is unbelievable that when our troops were struggling to get sufficient equipment in Iraq, the MoD was spending over £500,000 on art. If anything shows Labour’s flawed set of priorities, this is it.’

In total, Mr Hoon, spent £557,567 on art during his stint at the MoD. The images were supposed to resemble the Army, Royal Navy and RAF at work but civil servants were stunned by the ‘unrecognisable blurs’.

They were part of an extravagant £352million refurbishment of the MoD’s Whitehall headquarters five years ago. During the same period, the Meteorological Office – funded by the MoD – spent £279,092 on art for its new HQ in Exeter.

Geoff Hoon spent £557,567 on art during his stint at the MoD

Dr Fox said: ‘It’s shocking that Labour spent so much money on art while under-funding our troops on the front line. The MoD is running a war, not an art gallery.’

General Sir Mike Jackson, the former head of the Army, wrote in his memoirs: ‘The government art collection has many military paintings which would have been available at no cost; but civil servants preferred to spend on abstract art money which might otherwise have directly benefited soldiers.’

Labour faced repeated criticism for sending troops to war without the proper equipment. A coroner ruled that six Royal Military Police killed by an Iraqi mob in 2003 had been given radios that did not work and inadequate ammunition.

And a report blamed MoD cost-cutting for the 2006 Nimrod spy plane crash in Afghanistan that killed 14 servicemen.

This week the Government was forced to slash the defence budget – because Labour left a £37billion black hole in its war chest.

Mr Hoon, former MP for Ashfield, Notts, claimed recently that he could not remember commissioning the paintings. ‘I doubt that I ordered the art. I certainly was not aware that I ordered it,’ he said.